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#349 ‘Far Gone and Out’ by the Jesus & Mary Chain (22 Sep)

Justification: There are very few people who’d seriously disagree with the assertion that the JAMC’s contribution to the culture really began and ended with their first two albums – the harsh, Spector-meets-feedback of Psychocandy and its “…and we have songs too!” sibling Darklands – and that much of their career since was just fiddling around with the increasingly staid forumula. This single, however, was – and is – freakin’ amazing.

Honey’s Dead, though, is not. It’s the JAMC album that most people had, though, since Warners inexplicably thought they had a major hit on their hands and pressed about two billion of the things, which then cluttered up remainder bins in Virgin Megastore at $2 a pop for the next three years (alongside other – very worthy – albums including Pacer by the Amps, Frank Black’s Teenager of the Year and the Tim Booth/Angelo Badalamenti collaboration Booth & the Bad Angel). That being said, it was also their most commercially successful album – and its title was a statement of intent that they were cutting ties with the sound of their past, most obviously with ‘Just Like Honey’.

It was the song that brought them to radio in the US, got them on the first Lollapolooza tour and sustained their career for a good five years. It’s also fucking magnificent live, or at least it was when they played it at V Festival with Loz Colbert from Ride drumming for them. Man, that boy is good.

SONG YOU SHOULD HAVE REDISCOVERED THIS TIME IN 2010: Learn the shocking, they-were-actually-a-credible-band truth behind Men Without Hats via ‘The Safety Dance’!